Converted my slant pickup to a 2 bbl bbd years ago. It's been great for a long time. Finally age caught up to my carb and I took it into the local garage that is supposed to be the best carb place in town. After 3 months, and $300 my carter bbd has been mixed with a some carter clone. I believe the top half is still my old carb, but the lower half is new, and is some kind of asian knock off. Anyways, it runs like crap at idle now. Down the highway seems fine, but idle is so rich it's just impossible to sit in the truck for more than 30 seconds or so.

I've given up on the garage, and tried to adjust it myself (i'm no carb guy). I've got both mixture screws out so far I fear they're gonna fall out, and i'm still rich. I don't trust myself to tear into the carb, so I guess swapping it out is my only option. I now have what's left of my original carter carb, which is now bolted to the rest of the bbd clone... anyone have any advice.

I hear the part store rebuilds stink. I haven't been able to find a real carb shop in my area. Do I take a chance on a parts store rebuild, or do I try one of the webers? I just wan't my old truck to be reliable again.

Typically turning the idle mixture screws out richens the mixture.

Try setting the metering rods as described HERE
and see the BBD operation manual HERE.

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Heh...told you i'm not a carb guy. Thanks, i'll give it a try.

I found a BBD clone made by holley for $75 on ebay. It was supposed to be a holley remanufactured BBD for a 75 Volare. What arrived was a new carb stamped holley but obviously a BBD clone. It even had the core return tags in the box. I haven't installed it yet so it remains to be seen if it is a good carb but holley generally sends out good stuff, even their remanufactured carbs usually run like new. Also, I find it is always better to find the newest carb you can, it's not worth the trouble to fix all the crap work people have done on the carb after more than 10 years. If you can't return the one you have to factory specs it's better to get a new one. On the other hand, if you read and follow the manual, especially regarding any adjustments and settings, you may be able to repair the damage caused by the $300 carb shop.

Oh, groan. Those Chinese copycat BBDs are all over eBay, often sold as "low top" or "high top" for about $150. I took one apart to investigate. Junk -- dangerously bad (saw several design and build "features" that look like a fire waiting to happen). Looks as if the shop did you very badly wrong. You'll want to get that carburetor-shaped mess off your truck ASAP.

What to replace it with? THat's tougher to answer. "Remanufactured" carbs are usually a waste of money, time, and effort. There are no Holley-made BBD clones; "Holley II" is Holley's line of remanufactured carbs (of all different manufacture), which is regrettably not usually better than anyone else's remanufactured carbs, and Holley themselves made a Model 2280 which is, configuration by configuration, interchangeable with the BBD but is not a clone.

A good bet would be to get and install this one. It's for a 318, which means you'll have to swap the choke lever from your original carb (if the sorry excuse for a shop didn't lose or take it).

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Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

Thanks for the heads up Dan. A quick look at the "holley bbd" and there is no question. Cheap carb, missing parts, lousy finish. From the exterior it appears to be a BBD but it has Holley cast into one corner, but on the inside is another story, I only took the acc. pump cover off and the insides do not match the service manual, it's probably not safe to run and I don't plan to install it. Sad that some people on ebay feel that they have to misrepresent what they have. Selling fake carbs is dangerous!
I also agree, a NOS carter is the best option and a quick check around shows several just from the one seller.